Not the end
by dahoughtonuk
Summary: Oorai may have been saved after the university match, but a hidden and much more serious threat explains why Miho was able to transfer into a school in it's final year of operation. Fortunatly Anchovy discovers it. But the two attempts in the last few months only failed due to lucky circumstances.
1. Chapter 1

Anchovy sighed. It didn't make sense. Closing Oorai and selling for scrap was not sensible. It had similar museum value to Anzio being the first Japanese caried school ship. Anzio was the first school ship though. Then Anchovy decided to sit down and think as a graduate of the Maskylene school of sensha-do. Misdirection. Illusion. Props. What linked the battles?

"Oorai is safe for now, but the problems won't stop. Oorai was used as a cats-paw and the minister was expendable."

Pepperoni spoke up "What? You mean Oorai wasn't under threat of closure."

"Actually, it _was_. But that raised the question of how Nishizumi could transfer in? Then I asked myself, _what_ would you assume if a famous sports star with a famous name from a famous school transferred in to a school without that sport after an accident _narrowly_ avoiding fatalities?"

"But Kuromine and Nishizumi effectively got rid of Miho because she put saving lives over winning."

"Pepperoni, Il Duce means, in any other case, it would be sensible to assume that that star was at fault and couldn't be prosecuted because of the name." Carpaccio sighed

"Tell all except Darjeeling the revolution has started. Tell her the rebellion has."

* * *

Virtually every high school Sensha-do captain was at Oorai as well as the heads of the two notorious families. Anchovy spoke up "I'm disappointed that Alice and Miho couldn't see this but the irony of them being exemplars of the rival style to their families doesn't help. But I'll explain this. First thing. An outsider would assume Miho's transfer would be because she was the cause of the near accident."

"No Katyusha was, But if _any other team_ was in that position Katyusha would not have fired on stopped flag tank. Katyusha gives other schools time and would have called the Marshals" the egotistical and childish Russian commander declared.

"Even if it did lead to our loss to Oorai" Nonna pointed out. "But match was not stopped because of _Kuromine's reputation_. But back to the matter at hand."

"I think the Minister wasn't attacking Oorai per-Se but Sensha-do itself. When the minister called you in what were his words, Anzu?"

"That Oorai was being closed but used to have an excellent sensha-do..." Anzu realised something. "And I walked straight into the baited trap. But why would he..? Oh you've told me."

"Exactly- fortunately the trap was poorly constructed. The key pieces were not at all what the minister expected. Both Angie and Miho were not who he thought. Anzu had taken the blame to protect Momo whilst Miho was the opposite personality to what he thought."

Suddenly everyone understood Momo and Anzu's relationship at this point. things finally made sense, and why Anzu tended not to gun despite her incredible skills at that.

"Then everything went wrong for him. Oorai had been using several things to improve it's chances of surviving. The Anteater team saved the flag tank. Miho rescued the Caerbannog's, which in the end allowed Oorai to not only be able to but actually win. Demonstrating _exactly the opposite_ to what the Minster had wanted. The Minister needed a new avenue of attack."

Shimada Alice sighed. "He needed someone just as desperate as Anzu. But more naive. Me. the Siege Mortar. Mum yelled at me for that She claimed that was going too far for any style to allow it." Miho and Maho winced at that whilst Shiho somehow missed the implication. It was how many people saw the Nishizumi style . "Forgive me." Alice carried on.

"Exactly. A thirty tank university all stars verses an eight tank single high school annihilation match would blacken the name of sensha-do. You did spot that Alice, so as soon as you could move it to a more even match you did so. Good decision on that point. Not so much in using the siege mortar."

"So?"

"We were _extraordinarily luck_ y in the last match to have no injuries let alone deaths. The world cup is being held here in Japan. Imagine an 'accident' when the world is watching. Unfortunately we have no proof of who is truly behind this threat. It could just be the minister but I doubt it because the attack _**started twenty years ago**_ at Oorai high school. That's why the remaining tanks were _hidden across the ship_ in varying places."

All the captains looked downcast. Anchovy's analysis made far too much sense. The danger to Oorai high school had been delayed by multiple efforts from the sailors and parents starting pushing the museum purchase through, Anzu forcing most of MEXT to have to be on Oorai's side by her zany plan of doing Sensha-do incredibly well.


	2. Chapter 2

"How did you work out this problem existed, Anchovy? A long term plan to destroy Sensha-do."

"I studied the Maskylene style of Sensha-do..."

"I thought you were Shimada based, considering your tactics in our match, and the few commands you issued in the univeristy one."

"Not a bad guess, if I do say so myself. The Maskylene school is similar to the Shimada school, but includes a bit more politics. It's part of the reason Yukari doesn't like me. Maskyelene was an unrepentant aggrandising self-publicist. He was only one of many magicians the allies contracted, but he took a lot of credit for other peoples work. But since he's the known magician..." Anchovy stated.

"The school had to be named after him." Miho sighed.

"Well, I didn't realise until after the match with you how long the Marshalls would take. That changed matters. It was the right decision to rescue the tank crew." Anchovy stated.

"Fight hard for victory in the match, celebrate afterwards, but know both when to sacrifice and when to cut your losses. You simply made the wrong assumption about me. _Kurormine's reputation again_. Someone told me a new joke on the circuit and then got terrfied when she realised who I was." Miho continued

"New joke?"

"A man said he was useless during the match at telling tanks apart but he had a flow chart to help him. But thanks to Oorai's reentry he couldn't tell the difference between them and Continuation until after the match though. They both have a hodge podge of outdated tanks and drive like crazy. 'Not until afterwards?' the Kurormine tanker was perplexed . 'Of course after the match it's _absolutley certain_ though.' 'Why is it so certain then?' the Kurormine tanker asked bewildered. 'Isn't it obvious?' the old man laughed 'If you've lost your tanks but not the match it's Continuation..'".

"..If you've lost the match but not your tanks it's Oorai." Anzio finishes, and guffaws. "If only they'd known who you really were. But you'd better get the Prez onto your boat. She's the next weak point to be attacked. Did you never consider _how heavily_ Anzu was involved in the sensha-do world?. Calls me Chovy, had a Saunders nickname, got a friendly match with Gloriana yet went to Oorai."

"And was the tank commander. Anzu's not supposed to gun, because she covered for Momo in an actual accident and thus took the blame." Miho sighed. "Get her to safe harbour fast. On the school ship she is close to all-powerful. Off it she is vulnerable."

* * *

 **(MEXT meeting)**

"We can recover this disaster." Shimada smiled.

" ** _How?_** A university selection team against schools makes no sense." a minister pointed out.

"Unless they are the team we enter into the under-17 international." Shimada-san pointed out. it was typical of the Nishizumi's move forward without regard style, so it had to be pointed out by her rather than Shiho.

"That's brilliant. Insane but brilliant. It changes the bad move into the brilliant one, and we can use Alice's acceptence of the Siege Engine as a way to get her girls on it instead of the disgraced ministers agents." Shiho pointed out. "It should never have been taken out that easily, despite the insane moves used, to give the schools a _ridiculously narrow_ chance."

The minster who had spoken earlier sighed "You've must been working together on this, especially since I'm hearing the tactics coming from the wrong mouths, but it is a brilliant solution that makes sense. Still unfortunatley one person in the team cannot go international."

"Anzu. She needs to be cleared properly. She has been heavily involved in the Sensha-do world."

"Indeed. But it's going to be hard. Anzu's been careful, but people are starting to spot her tank has two gunners. One is overly enthusiastic and thus atrocious,so never hits what she aims at, and the other is a incredibly patient sniper. And since Anzu is not allowed to gun. We need to clear those two and fast. Because neither she nor Momo wouold ever have been allowed in a tank if things were as stated."

"But now I wonder what we'd unearth. We've basically been placed between a rock and a hard place. Because whatever drove Anzu away from sensha-do must have been extremly bad. Still so far we have lucked out. But unfortunatley we _only_ lucked out. The first trap was, through incredible coinicidence, poorly constructed. The second was better but missed the fact that even Alice would see the obvious problem with an Annihilation match of a full team against twelve tanks. But best to find out what the next traps are before they are sprung upon us."


End file.
